Purification and characterization of rabbit muscle acylphosphatase in the thiol (-SH) form

Modifications in the muscle acylphosphatase purification procedure enabled us to isolate the enzyme with its sole cysteine in the -SH form; this enzyme form is the most abundant in vivo. Our data demonstrates that the enzyme forms purified by previously reported procedures can be easily derived from a reaction of the SH-enzyme with oxidized glutathione. Probably most, or even all, of these enzyme forms are artifacts due to the purification. The SH-acylphosphatase shows kinetic parameters similar to those reported for the mixed disulfide with glutathione and S-S dimer, except for the specific activity value, which is about twice as much, and the Km, which is reduced.